The present invention relates generally to portable audio systems, and in particular to a portable audio system, capable of serving as the console for a fixed audio system, wherein the audio functionality may be changed by substituting audio controllers.
A wide variety of audio systems—both fixed and portable—are known in the art. These systems reproduce audio content from a variety of sources, such as phonographic records, magnetic tape (e.g., reel-to-reel, 8-track, cassette), optical digital storage media (e.g., audio CD, MP3 CD, DVD), broadcast audio programs (e.g., AM, FM, satellite), and the like. Typically, an audio system will provide the functionality of reproducing audio content from two or more such sources. For example, one audio system may include an AM/FM tuner and a CD player. Another audio system may include a CD player and cassette tape deck, with no broadcast tuner functionality.
With fixed or “home” audio systems, designed to be moved only infrequently, a popular approach to providing a combination of audio system functions is to package such functionality into separate components. Such a system may comprise at its core an amplifier, which may include an AM/FM tuner, with external speaker outputs and certain user controls. A user may then add, for example, a second component including one or more cassette tape decks. A third component may comprise a CD player or multi-CD player, and so on. This allows each user to assemble the precise combination of audio features desired, without incurring the cost of audio system functionality that the user does not desire and would not utilize.
Portable audio system manufacturers, on the other hand, have traditionally eschewed the component approach to providing disparate functionality. Portable audio systems typically come with a fixed combination of functions (e.g., an AM/FM tuner, CD player, and single cassette deck). Users are often forced to select a “best fit” combination of system functionality, and have no way to later add functionality or otherwise change the assembled audio functionality on an ad hoc basis.
Additionally, many users do not wish to incur the expense of separate fixed and portable audio systems. While portable audio systems with the capability of driving a fixed system (e.g., with external speaker connectors and the like) are known, such systems are typically based on the portable audio system model. That is, they provide only a pre-determined, fixed combination of audio system functionality, with no means to add or change that functionality as required or desired by the user.